Infinitely Losing My Edge
Yeah, I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
The kids are coming up from behind.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids from Suriname and from Bologna.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Big Star show in Memphis.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids whose footsteps I hear when they get on the decks.
I'm losing my edge to the internet seekers who can tell me every member of every good group from 1963 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Stockholm and Manchester.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai kids in little jackets and borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered nineties.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
I can hear the footsteps every night on the decks.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975 at the first Throbbing Gristle practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed started up his first band.
I told him, "Don't do it that way. You'll never make a dime."
I was there.
I was the first guy playing DJ Sneak to the electroclash kids.
I played it at the Astoria.
Everybody thought I was crazy.
We all know.
I was there.
I was there.
I've never been wrong.
But I'm losing my edge to better-looking people with better ideas and more talent.
And they're actually really, really nice.
I'm losing my edge.
I heard you have a compilation of every good song ever done by anybody.
Every great song by These Immortal Souls. All the underground hits.
All the Association tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Essential Logic record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal jazz hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a spring reverb and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Bang on a Can All-Stars record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your organ and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought an organ.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Lalann,
Ralphi Rosario,
Manfred Mann's Earth Band,
The Gap Band,
Saccharine Trust,
Bauhaus,
Sun Ra Arkestra,
Nils Olav,
H. Thieme,
the Fania All-Stars,
Crispian St. Peters,
Tomorrow,
Bang On A Can,
Black Flag,
Shoche,
Ornette Coleman,
The Saints,
Marvin Gaye,
Al Stewart,
X-102,
China Crisis,
Funkadelic,
Black Moon,
Kurtis Blow,
Agitation Free,
Reuben Wilson,
Pussy Galore,
The American Breed,
Boz Scaggs,
London Community Gospel Choir,
Popol Vuh,
The Cramps,
KRS-One,
Fatback Band,
Lightning Bolt,
Flash Fearless,
The Sound,
Mary Jane Girls,
The Index,
The Move,
Lower 48,
Pole,
Rekid,
The Slits,
Underground Resistance,
Joyce Sims,
Donald Byrd,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Dennis Brown,
Girls At Our Best!,
Harpers Bizarre,
Kauko Röyhkä ja Narttu,
Average White Band,
The Grass Roots,
Throbbing Gristle,
Sun City Girls,
Patti Smith,
Dual Sessions,
Bizarre Inc.,
Ken Boothe, Ken Boothe, Ken Boothe, Ken Boothe.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.